History of Film: The Best Movies of the 1980s

No need to elongate this latest entry into our History of Film feature by reiterating the fact that this sort of ranking of art is arbitrary. We all know it is, and continue to indulge in this guilty pleasure-like exercise anyway. Below are ballots collected from the staff and friends of Movie Mezzanine. In the comment section, rattle off your ten favorite films from the 1980s. The results and analysis of your selections to come a month from today. Enjoy!

Come to think of it, isn’t it a bit weird to ask anyone to pick only 10 between hundreds of thousands of movies released over a period of 10 years all over the world? And isn’t it even weirder that most movies on the lists are American (mine included)? Didn’t the other countries produce anything more worthy of being on the best of the decade than, say, Die Hard (which I love, by the way)?

So you’re basically complaining that movie-viewers aren’t omniscient cinema gods who have seen an absurd number of films before they can make a personal list of favorites? We are human beings who can only know so much. Every top x of a decade is going to be based upon an incomplete amount of knowledge.

gustavomda

No, of course not. I’m only saying there’s a saturation of films in English, whereas other countries and cultures also produce movies worthy of figuring on these lists which are ignored.

Squasher88

I’m with Sam on this one. It can be quite arbitrary. Having a top 10 list that only has American films doesn’t mean you don’t watch foreign films.
For example, you could have watched 30 foreign films and 20 American films for the decade and your top 10 could still be only the 10 American films.
It always irritates me when people make assumptions like “your favourite films are American, so you obviously haven’t watched foreign films.”
People like what they like.

gustavomda

Yeah, but since so many top x lists feature almost exclusively American films, what’s the logical conclusion? That the USA alone makes films better than all the rest of the world?

Squasher88

I agree that generally, it’s a shame that foreign films don’t get more recognition. However, I’ve seen instances were a blogger posts a top 10 list and someone criticizes them and says “not enough foreign films”. That’s what I take issue with and I find it offensive at times.
It’s simple, American films feature highly because they are more readily available. Also, I strongly believe that the best of American cinema compares well with the best of foreign film. Yes, Hollywood produces a lot of crap, but that’s expected considering the larger output. Also the crap often makes a lot the money and gets a lot of visibility, which warps of perception of the quality of American cinema.
Foreign cinema is no different actually. We only know about the best ones due to festivals etc, but there are hundreds that we don’t hear about that are just as bad as the worst of Hollywood.

gustavomda

But it’s unfair American movies should feature more on lists simply because they have more visibility. I mean, not to say it’s wrong that people like what they like, and of course there are lots of bad “foreign” movies (American movies are foreign to me too, so…), but maybe they should try and learn more about foreign cinema, beyond what they get through festivals etc.

Squasher88

It may seem unfair, but that’s the reality. Unless you’re advocating illegal downloads, I don’t see how we’re supposed to learn more about foreign cinema. We certainly don’t get many of them in theaters.

For example, I really want to watch to “Omar m’a tuer” (started watching it on a flight). It’s been 2 years and it’s still unavailable for me to watch.

gustavomda

Don’t you have the criterion collection and such? Don’t you get them on cable tv, netflix etc? I don’t mean all of it, of course. Sure there are lots of things which take so long to be available. But not movies of the 80s. The ones I think should be on more lists here, for example, I’ve seen on dvd – either rented or bought.

Squasher88

Fair point, but those are still limited to hand-picked festival favourites, select auteurs, award winners etc. Even if you decided to watch a lot of those there will still be many more American movies available to watch. In the end, those American films are often the ones that you are dying to watch because everyone is talking about them, while you’ll select a few highly-rated foreign films to watch and hopefully you’ll love them too, but there’s no guarantee.

gustavomda

Of course there are more American movies available to watch. I’m not saying otherwise. But if you only watch them, you’re missing some great stuff being made overseas and contributing to keep the rule of American culture intact.

It’s not weird that most of them are American because most movie-viewers that come to these sites are English speakers and watch a lot of films in English.

However, I still think it’s a problem and I’d even go so far as accuse many movie-buffs of being lazy by saturating themselves in American cinema when there are so many countries producing astounding movies in this period of time. I think the ’80s was a vibrant time for foreign cinema and it is sad to see a lot of American films dominate this list when films like Wenders, Studio Ghibli, Woo, Kiarostami and more are making fantastic films.

gustavomda

But you see, that’s an issue even with non-English speakers. I myself am from Brazil, and people have a culture of knowing and liking American cinema above all else. When it’s not American cinema, it’s Italian, French, you name it. Never – or rarely at best – Brazilian cinema. I don’t know how it’s like in the rest of the world but that may be the case in other countries which are more strongly influenced by American culture.

Feelm

I’m DISGUSTED, if not surprised, at the sheer volume of Ferris Bueller inclusions on here. LOATH that movie.

gustavomda

I like it a lot, but wouldn’t dare pick it as one of the ten best movies of the entire decade

Squasher88

Well, you’ll just have to deal with it haha. You are in the minority on that one. Vintage 80s.

Off the top of my head…
1. The Shining
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street
3. Dead & Buried
4. The Empire Strikes Back
5. An American Werewolf in London
6. Creepshow
7. Friday the 13th Part 3
8. Poltergeist
9. The Thing
10. Clash of the Titans

Miran

1. Amadeus

2. Paris, Texas

3. Blade Runner

4. Time of the Gypsies

5. Do The Right Thing

6. The King of Comedy

7. Hannah and Her Sisters

8. Fanny and Alexander

9. The Shining

10. Wings of Desire

Shout out to: Drowning by Numbers, Out of the Blue, Mauvais Sang, Something Wild, and many more…

For me, Lucas is a good film because it has this Life Lesson: “Just because you like someone does not mean they will like you back,” as well as an actual discussion of Darwin and natural selection. It’s also a movie that depicts teens as humane and caring individuals rather than shallow and crude, which is a more typical characterization. Finally, I like the clapping scene in the end. It is touching. Dirty Dancing, likewise, has a profound Life Lesson: “Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.” It is a film that depicts classism (Ivy League vs. working class) and chauvinism (rape and illegal abortion) in a complete environment. A whole world is created, as opposed to a scene tacked on to a movie to give it more depth. Also, the music is fantastic, and I like the ending dance scene. Yep. Great Movies both.

gubblerchechenova

“Just because you like someone does not mean they will like you back,”

You mean you had to see this movie to figure this out?

“Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.”

Sure, but respect, like money, has to be earned. If you stick your ass out to be rubbed by the groins of other men out in public, it’s hardly gonna win you any respect.
I mean if a guy with a long dick pulls down his pants and sucks his own dick in public and demands respect, most people aint gonna give him that.
if a woman sticks her ass out and farts in the bus out loud and says she wants respect, she aint gonna get it.

Sex is wonderful and why we exist. But it belongs in the bedroom. If you wanna dance like you wanna fuck, just get a hotel room and do some fucking. Better for both parties.

moviewise

Re: <>

It’s a general Life Lesson taken from the movie. Wether it is the first time someone has been exposed to this idea depends on how young they are when they see the movie. But, I think it is a really hard lesson for some people to accept, the most extreme example would be stalkers and their ilk. I think it is hard for some teens to accept that the extent to which they like someone has no bearing on whether that other person will reciprocate. It’s probably one of the first heart breaks, and the movie Lucas shows this really well. It zeroes in on all of these dynamics while still being uplifting.

re: <>

We may have different definitions of respect. By treating someone with “respect” I mean being “respectful.” In its very basic form, it’s just a matter of good manners. For example, if someone says, “Hi” to you, you should acknowledge them and greet them back. Even if you don’t like them for some reason, they are still human beings. If someone extends out their hand to thank you, you should graciously accept it. In the movie, the father, who is a doctor, looks down on Johnny, and refuses to shake his hand because he thinks Johnny is a lowlife. Until the last scene, that is, when the doctor learns more about Johnny and realizes that he had misjudged him. There are more profound reasons to treat everyone with respect, having to do with living in a shared society, acknowledging other people’s pain and suffering, wanting to treat others as you would like to be treated etc. etc.

If for some reason The Decaloge is disqualified because it was produced for Polish State Television then

10. Die Hard

David Baruffi

David Baruffi, from “David Baruffi’s Entertainment Views and Reviews” and here’s my Top Ten films of the ’80s!

1. The Decalogue
2. Wings of Desire
3. Pixote: The Law of the Weakest
4. Raging Bull
5. Do the Right Thing
6. This is Spinal Tap
7. My Dinner with Andre
8. Amadeus
9. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
10. Airplane!

Eric Henderson

The Shining
Tango
Mommie Dearest
One from the Heart
Sans soleil
L’Argent
Love Streams
Crime Wave
The Fly
Do the Right Thing

gubblerchechenova

One from the Heart?

Charles

1. Do the Right Thing
2. When Harry Met Sally
3. Poltergeist
4. The Princess Bride
5. The Thing
6. Raiders of the Lost Ark
7. Castle in the Sky
8. Field of Dreams
9. The Shining
10. An American Tail

#1. Stop Making Sense
#2. The Shining
#3. Grave of the Fireflies
#4. Do The Right Thing
#5. Once Upon A Time in America
#6. Back To The Future
#7. Raiders of the Lost Ark
#8. Das Boot
#9. Raging Bull
#10. Hannah and Her Sisters

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Do the Right Thing
4. Back to the Future
5. Wings of Desire
6. The Right Stuff
7. Hannah and Her Sisters
8. The Terminator
9. Eight Men Out
10. Blade Runner

Also worth mentioning: Dead Poets Society; Platoon; Nuovo Cinema Paradiso; Amadeus; Das Boot; Empire of the Sun; The Name of the Rose; Blade Runner; Zelig; Tonari no Totoro AKA My Neighbor Totoro; Who Framed Roger Rabbit; A Fish Called Wanda; Majo no takkyûbin AKA Kiki’s Delivery Service; Do the Right Thing; The Mission; The Purple Rose of Cairo; Stand by Me; The Elephant Man; Broadway Danny Rose; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Charlie Avallone

Like to see some of the ones on the lists that don’t get as much love. Modern Romance is a classic. Also think that while Hannah and Her Sisters was a good movie, both Crimes and Misdemeanors as well as The Purple Rose of Cairo were better movies.

Paul Reese

So many great films. So difficult to just narrow down to 10.

01. Tenebrae.

02. Running on Empty.

03. Pink Floyd – The Wall.

04. American Pop.

05. À Nos Amours.

06. Pixote, the Law of the Weakest.

07. Prince of Darkness.

08. The Shining.

09. Come and See.

10. A Short Film About Love.

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